Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Xavier Nady Gets a One Year Deal

This probably means that the X-Man will not be traded by the Yankees--at least not before the season starts. This is good for the Yankees because it will provide them with outfield depth. Nick Swisher should still start over Xavier Nady but that's something I've touched on before. The alignment on Opening Day should be Damon/Gardner/Swisher with Matsui as the DH if the pitcher is right handed and Nady if the pitcher is left handed. Nady on the bench means greater flexibility in giving the aging Damon a day off in left field if he needs it or allowing the Yankees to shift Swisher to CF if Gardner starts to stumble too much at the plate. This kind of roster flexibility is going to be something new for the Yankees, even though Joe Girardi juggled the lineup a bit much last year. This time, though, if he does, it will be for good reason and he'll have more than suitable replacements. The infield bench is still looking pretty weak but there's still time for that to be ironed out.

If Nady were a free Agent, he'd be valued at about $7.71 million. That projection comes from using his Marcels offensive projection combined with his CHONE defensive projection, using the same math as my "What's A Player Worth" post. So it appears that the Yankees will be getting a good deal for Mr. Nady, if he lives up to his performance.

And, I've got to talk about it because it needs to be touched on. Today seemed unreal to me. As cliche as it may sound, today was an event four years in the making. From the moment his keynote speech at the 2004 DNC ended, I knew Barack Obama would be President one day--I just didn't think it'd be this soon. The election of a black man to the office of the Presidency is nothing short of historic and monumental. I'm a very cynical person and wasn't sure if the American people could do what they did on November 4th but they did and my faith in a people was restored.

We still have a long way to go in this nation in terms of race relations, but today, the most hopeful I've known in quite some time, we reached a peak. At the risk of sounding silly, I will always remember what I was doing when Chief Justice Roberts swore in Barack Obama: standing in front of my TV in my college apartment, hands on my head, shedding tears of joy because for the first time in years, I've felt hopeful for the future of my country.